Minister of Finance Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf has reiterated the support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to agreements that are collectively signed by the GCC member states with other countries for the purpose of reaching a duty-free zone. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Dr Al-Assaf said 'any individual signing of agreements by a GCC member state with other countries constitutes a flagrant violation to the economic agreement earlier signed by the GCC Leaders'. 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes that cooperation and economic integration constitute the corner stone for any joint Arab work', he said. Dr Al-Assaf refuted the reports which said that bilateral agreements don't contradict with the Gulf Custom Union, and said the GCC Secretariat General had made it clear that bilateral agreements run counter to the agreements concluded by the GCC Leaders. --more 1136 Local Time 0836 GMT
